Northwest Running Season Opens With Some Strong Shamrock Numbers

The 31st annual Shamrock Run this Sunday is experiencing an 18 percent jump this year in participants with more than 19,000 expected to attend. And race officials say the increase comes on top of last year's 45 percent jump.

Run coordinator Steve Hamilton has been involved in the event since its beginning and attributes the “burst of growth” over the past few years partially to the addition of the Widmer beer garden. “Despite the beer garden it is a family event,” he added, “it has become a Portland tradition.”

As the opening event of the Northwest's running season, the Shamrock Run offers various levels of involvement from a 1K “leprechaun lap” to the 15K full downtown run.

Along with the runners, more than 600 volunteers will be donating their time. And part of the net proceeds from the March 15 event will benefit the Doernbecher Children's Hospital Foundation.

"In the low usage areas, we found that our vehicles sit idle four times longer, ultimately affecting overall vehicle availability for the Portland membership base, as well as parking for the Portland community."

News
East Portland can't catch a break.Just this week KGW had a story called, "Diverse, non-cool East Por... More